Ok so I have a boneless pork shoulder hanging in the freezer from Costco and I was thinking of doing something a little different than a traditional pulled pork. What I want to do is butterfly the shoulder and make a Porchetta. I would rub the inside with porchetta spice(garlic, citrus zest, fennel, rosemary, etc), then roll and tie. I'm not sure if I want to sous vide or do it all on the cooker. Now here are the questions I have for the esteemed pit masters on this site
Sous Vide. What time and temp for the bath? Bear in mind I want to keep this sliceable, not pulled/shredded
Overall finishing temp to keep a sliceable texture? 180-190?
SV is a nice tool. And not the way to do porchetta. Porchetta needs the dry heat to cook the outside correctly and not sear. I'm not sure I'd smoke it either, honestly, not if you want a traditional porchetta. Me, I'd take it to about 180-90 in the oven. If you do smoke it, I'd go very light on smoke. After all you're not after a pulled pork that is simply sliceable, you want porchetta.
Well, the first thing is that I would avoid using raw garlic and other aromatics in the sous vide because they won’t cook the same. Note in the recipe below, he cooks his garlic before using it.
I did two pork butts for 72 at 135 for pullable, so if you want to start, I’d aim for about 36- 48 hours at 155-160 for sliceable. I would not take it above that if you want to keep it sliceable. I’ve found that Kenji’s cook times are more a minimum than a stopping point, and typically go longer.
Last edited by STEbbq; September 24, 2021, 09:11 AM.
I've done Kenji's all belly porchetta before, but in the oven not sous vide....just want to try something different with the shoulder. Agree on cooking the aromatics first tho
Interesting. I worked at an Italian restaurant back in the day and they did offer a stuffed porchetta. It wasn’t too bad but it was more from a pork loin that they flattened and then rolled. Curious how it would work coming from the shoulder.
Yea the typical way is the complete lion/belly boned out and rolled. I figure a long enough cook to break down the muscle, but not long enough to make it mushy/unsliceable
I just can't think of any reason to SV this aside from curiosity. Doing this in the oven would be my first choice simply because smoke isn't a traditional component of porchetta. Second would be doing it on the smoker but aiming for lighter smoke so you don't just end up with a pulled pork butt that's sliceable. But hitting a precise temp for 2 days doesnt really bring you anything and you still need to crisp the outside.
The only reason I asked about sous vide was for convenience sake. I can set it and forget it and sear/crisp at the end of cooking limiting my time spent cooking/tending cookers. Maybe don't think of it as a porchetta, maybe a porchetta spiced, rolled pork shoulder. Plus I'm not against cooking it all over plain charcoal with no smoke.
That's why I'd go oven - no tending, but also no need to go SV for 2 days etc. I don't think SV will be BAD... you can crisp it in a 500F oven at the end - but I can't see it adding anything either. In the oven you can cook it relatively low but without a) the long SV time or b) tending a smoker. Same thing for charcoal, really - get it to 300F or so, let it go for a few hours, done. If it's still hot where you are, I'd lean to outside, otherwise oven.
Porchettas are all about the crunchy skin. I suppose SV would be fine for the initial cook but you still have to deal with the skin. Many different techniques like pouring hot oil to crisp it up can be employed. Here’s one I did conventionally;
A Porchetta (pronounced por-ketta) is yet another example of the national cuisine of Italy. Like the Filipino Lechon, it is a whole pig roasted over coals until the meat is done and
Also see if you can source fennel pollen, makes it most authentic!! Good luck 👍
If Pobeque has a Costco boneless shoulder, there is no skin, which I agree is half the point of a porchetta.
Considering how relatively foolproof pork shoulder is in the oven, I'd just roll/tie it up and roast it in a low oven to 190ish. If you happen to have one with a fat cap. you can score it and hope you get some crispy bit in the oven. I don't see the upside for SV.
Try the Two Guys and a Cooler channel on You Tube. They make a porchetta using the capacola muscle from a pork shoulder, wrapped in a layer of skin-on pork belly. It is then tied and cooked. Using your rig, this would be fantastic. Try 'em, great channel...
Try the Two Guys and a Cooler channel on You Tube. They make a porchetta using the capacola muscle from a pork shoulder, wrapped in a layer of skin-on pork belly. It is then tied and cooked. Using your rig, this would be fantastic. Try 'em, great channel...
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